Opera Scotland

Missa in Angustiis 2025Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Read more about the opera Nelson Mass

Can it really be that the SCO's management have actually discovered the quality of Haydn's six late masses?  They are giving us the second of them, the 'Paukenmesse' at the end of April next year, coupled with Mozart's Requiem,  And here comes the third, known, at least in Britain, as the 'Nelson' Mass.  The official title could translate as Mass in troubled times or in an Age of Anxiety. The Austrians were rightly concerned at the imminent threat of Napoleonic invasion.

In Edinburgh the quartet of soloists was excellen and well-balanced, while Maxim Emelyanychev, as expected, led the team in lively fashion.  These late works - composed after Haydn returned from London laden with money beyond any dreams he could have harboured beforehand, are wonderfully cheerful, in spite of the anxiety of the times.  The SCO's team of players, all virtuosi, seized their opportunities with glee.

The first part of the concert began with the Brahms 'Variations on a Theme of Haydn', aka the St Antoni Chorale - surprisingly rarely played for a work that is so familiar.  The piano concerto was Beethoven's Third, entrusted to the brilliant Korean Yeol Eum Son.  Altogether a lovely evening.